The Marauders
by LoverofPadfoot
Summary: A tale of the Marauders through their time at Hogwarts.
1. Chapter 1

He noticed her straight away with her fiery red hair, which he would have usually laughed at before calling her ginger and running away, but this time he just stared at it in awe noticing how it just made her face look even paler which suited the girl perfectly. Her friend began giggling and he realised that he had been staring, turning bright pink and mumbling something which sounded like an apology he shuffled away trying to find a seat in the gleaming red train. He had been dreaming about this day for months, years even as both his parents had gone to Hogwarts as children he had many visions of what it would look like, but could not wait to see if he was right or not. Seeing that there was a space in the carriage which he had just entered he let his trunk rest beside the others and went to take a place opposite a boy with tidy brown hair. The boy, whom he later found out was called Remus Lupin looked strangely familiar as if he had seen him before but knowing that he hadn't he pushed this out of his head and sat down anyway. The boy looked up from his book and smiled before returning to read. James was slightly taken aback by the lack of communication, and being a very confident boy took it upon himself to start off the formalities.

Extending a hand towards the boy who's eyes looked up above the book he said,

"James Potter, how do you do?"

At once he felt a bit stupid. 'how do you do?' what was he thinking?! That's the sort of thing that his father said to a business associate, not a potential friend. Even so the boy looked up smiled again and shook James' hand.

"Remus Lupin"

"So Remus, is this your first year at Hogwarts?" he asked, now becoming desperate to try and get a conversation going as he knew the journey ahead could be extremely boring if he was sitting on his own. Finally giving up after 10 minutes of asking questions, each being replied with either a "yes" or "no" answer, he sat back and watched the countryside pass quickly by.

To his joy the door swung open and a short, tubby, blonde boy ran through the couch begging for forgiveness being chased by two older students wearing the green and silver of a slytherin. James stood up straight away blocking the two people who he realised were prefects from hexing the boy.

"Get out of the way boy" said the first one, a tall girl with long black hair, hooded eyelids and what looked like a permanent sneer.

"Ha if you think I am going to move aside so you can hex this boy then you are mistaken" James said quivering slightly not quite knowing what to do now, but slowly feeling for his wand.

"Fine we will hex you too, the more the merrier, you don't look much like slytherin material and we will make up for it if you are." sniggered the second one.

Suddenly a boy around the same height as him came bounding through, stopping to look at the scene unfurling.

"Aw come on Bellatrix, give the boy a chance" the young boy said. "I'm sure he didn't mean to step on your cats tail, the things pretty scrawny, like you, anyone could have missed it."

"Piss off Sirius we do not need your help go find some other first year to pester. Make sure it's a pureblood mind."

"Go on Bella, for me? Or you are going to have to hex me as well and you know what mother would say if you were to do that!"

"Whatever but you had better warn your little 'friend' here that if he ever crosses my path again I am not going to be so lenient, now go find someone else to pester, I am serious."

"You're not Sirius I am!" he chuckled.

And with that the two Slytherin prefects stalked off leaving all four of them alone in a coach together. The blonde boy announced that his name was Peter Pettigrew before telling Remus to shuffle along so that he could sit down. He also thanked both James and Sirius before getting stuck into the chocolate frog which he had just bought leaving Sirius and James to introduce themselves to each other.

"Sirius" said the boy with black hair, which looked pretty similar to James' but seemed to pay more attention to what Sirius did to it rather than just sticking up in any direction.

"James"

"So what's your last name James? Maybe I have heard of you. That's if you are pureblood of course, my whole bloody family is obsessed with pure bloods. Gets on my nerves a lot not to mention the restriction to friends." he laughed, though James could not see what was very funny about his family being obsessed with purebloods.

"James Potter"

"Ah… a Potter, hmm mother would be glad that I have made friends with you then. Perfect!" He smiled gleefully which made James feel a bit uncomfortable. "I am Sirius Black by the way, heir to the Black family fortune and one of the very few not going to become a Slytherin."

This took James by surprise as he had heard that nearly all of them had been a Slytherin, and that being anything other was considered a disgrace by all other family members.

"How come you don't want to be in Slytherin?"

"Well firstly because my mother would hate it, and seeing as I hate my mother it would be one of the few ways to get her back, but secondly, well come on! There reputation for being evil bastards and bitches is hardly attractive. No the house I am going to be in is Gryffindor, for the brave. Isn't that the one all your family goes into? God that would be cool if we were in a house together!" He once again grinned, but this time James smiled back. Maybe this would be the perfect friend for him to complete all the pranks which he had planned with.

"Sounds like a plan." James replied "yeah it would be really cool if we were in a house together."


	2. Chapter 2

The train journey passed very quickly and all four of them found that they had quite a lot in common, except for Peter, who just nodded and laughed in the right places, so desperate to be accepted that he would do anything. The train began to slow down as it approached Hogsmead and the boy began changing into their robes. Both James and Sirius' robes were the latest style, material, and shape, making them look extremely smart and grown up even though they were only 11, added to because of their height and build. Remus' was slightly less 'fashionable' but still looked new and fitted well, this was in complete contrast to Peters who felt his cheeks burn as the others looked at him, though no one made any comments.

At last the train grew to a standstill and all the boys got off with their trunks and looked around, from every side pupils were streaming off the train heading towards carriages. All four of them began to head the same way when a loud voice came from behind them.

"All Firs' years this way, all firs' years!"

They turned around and were faced with an extremely large man with a long black beard, and equally long hair down to his shoulders. They walked towards him, and James realised that this was Hagrid who his parents had been talking about. James pulled Sirius and Remus towards the giant and Peter scurried along behind determined not to get left behind. Leaving their bags on the shore, all four of them squashed themselves into a small boat which automatically took them across a lake. Rounding the corner they all gasped as they saw Hogwarts for the first time looking like a large lit up castle which floated in the darkness. The turrets and towers reached high into the sky as if they were touching the stars. Suddenly everyone was quiet around them, all looking at the same magnificent sight.

Across the lake under the castle the boats came to a standstill and everyone piled out and stood in front of a tall majestic looking witch. Her name was Professor McGonagall, a name which James could vaguely remember from his dads stories but couldn't place it. She looked down at all the quivering first years and smiled, though it looked a bit more like a grimace, but James somehow knew that she was being nice but had spent so many years telling new and old students off that she now tried not too look too friendly. Quickly she turned around and began striding though a narrow hall lit by torches along the wall until she came to a large wooden door. After mumbling an unlocking charm the door swung open revealing a medium sized room painted dark red with also dark panelling. After telling them all the make themselves look presentable she left them.

James looked around and laughed realising that he was finally in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Everyone else looked around and game him a strange look including the girl with the dark red hair. He noticed her once again and smiled, but she just tilted her head in a similar way to a dog as if confused and turned back to her friend. He sighed, not noticing that Sirius had been watching them both this whole time. He grinned but shook his head.

"Not in a million years mate." he said chuckling.

"Ha what do you mean? Like I care what she thinks, she's just some girl." James replied though he was secretly slightly worried, as he already cared greatly what Sirius thought.

Before he had any time to contemplate this further Professor McGonagall swept back into the room and beckoned all the students to follow her, though most had to run just to keep up with her. After passing through a maze of door they finally reached a very large double wooden door with brass bolts and locks all the way up and down. The doors once again swung open but this time into a massive room with four tables spread out in the middle, and a large table for staff at the far end. Hundreds of pupils were sitting there in complete silence making most of the first years tremble with fear, but for James and Sirius just made them feel more important and decided to use this to make a good first impression. First of the four to be called out was Sirius Black. After a while the sorting hat, a tatty looking thing, called out Gryffindoor. The whole room was completely silent. Until Bellatrix stood up cursing her cousin, pointing her wand at the sorting hat, screaming at it to reconsider. Dumbledore rose from his seat.

"Bellatrix please be seated." He stated with a warning look in his eye though his face betrayed no feelings whatsoever.

"The sorting hat has never been wrong, and once placed the student cannot change houses, this shall be the same with Mr Black. Thank you." With that Dumbledore sat down and Sirius grinned as the Gryffindoor table clapped and smiled back.

After many of the students had been sorted, including the red head, who James found out was called Lily Evans and was in Gryffindoor, the next of the four had his chance to be Sorted. Remus Lupin walked onto the stage looking calm and collected. After a while, the Sorting Hat finally called out Gryffindoor though it had been close as Remus was a werewolf and therefore would be most accepted in Slytherin, but Remus lacked the ambitiousness which often went hand in hand with a complete lack or respect for others that was almost a necessity for Slytherin's. The last two to be sorted were Peter and then James. James of course was sorted straight into Gryffindoor without the hat even touching his head, and the house was extremely please for another Potter to be among them, but Peter had ended up begging with the hat to be put in Gryffindoor as he was so desperate to be friends with Sirius, James and Remus.

During the feat James noticed that Lily Evans and her friend Katir Blanche were whispering and pointing at him subtly. Looking up he smiled and waved, but instead of smiling back they quickly turned away. He then noticed a greasy looking boy also looking over at the girls, Lily smiled at him and waved which made James' stomach knot up as the boy as well as being deeply unattractive was also a Slytherin, though the Katir did look a lot less pleased about the attention she was getting from the boy. James stood up and walked towards Lily not noticing the amused looks he was getting from Sirius who was watching him. As he reached the place where Lily was sitting he ran a hand through his hair trying to flatten it slightly but not bothering too much, and grinned in what he hoped looked like an inviting way. Lily looked up at him just staring making no effort at all to say hello. So once again that day he took it upon himself to do the niceties.

"Hello I am James, I heard you are Lily, and you," he said turning to Katir "are Katir, right?" Katir smiled back noticing straight away how handsome he was, and blushing as this thought went through her mind.

"Yes I am Lily and this is Katir, and if you don't mind I would like to finish my meal." As she said this she turned back to the greasy haired boy, rolled her eyes, laughed and went back to eating. Katir pulled an apologetic smile before elbowing Lily and giving her a meaningful glance.

Though James was rather confused about this, he was not deterred and decided that he would just persevere. Turning back towards Sirius he once again glance over to the other boy, giving him a glare, which if looks could kill, the boy would now be lying on his back, not breathing. Sirius also glared at the boy, before turning back to James, smiling at him and then carrying on with the conversation he was having with Remus which Peter was once again struggling to stay involved with.

Finally about half an hour later, and after Dumbledore's short to the point speech all four of them entered their room, in which their trunks had been placed in pulled on an array or tops and bottoms, before diving into the fluffy four-poster beds and falling into a deep sleep.


End file.
